Immortals and Demons Forever

Chapter 22: Provocation

The people in the living room were instantly stunned, and a brief silence fell over the room. “Kuanzi, what the hell happened to you?” Erhu shouted. Tang Kuan growled, “I ran into a tough guy. I had a fight with Su Mu—his head’s harder than a chunk of iron. I was no match for him at all.” “You’ve already fought him? How did this conflict start?” Song Dachui’s expression had already turned grim. He’d just offered to invite Su Mu over for a drink, but now his underling had been beaten up—it was the other guy who’d disrespected him first. “That little bastard was disrespectful to you, Boss, and deliberately tried to humiliate me. I couldn’t stand it, so I struck back.” “Hey! That’s pretty gutsy. Did you think I wouldn’t dare touch him just because he’s got some kind of connection?” Song Dachui let out two cold laughs. “How exactly did he show me disrespect? Spit it out—let everyone hear it!” Tang Kuan dumped the contents of the bag onto the coffee table. “See for yourselves.” The items that spilled out were a motley collection, but the most eye-catching was a stone among them. Tang Kuan pointed at the stone. “Su Mu said this was a welcome gift for you, Boss.” Song Dachui’s face turned dark, and the men standing nearby were already seething with rage. “That little brat’s gotten way too cocky. I can’t wait another minute. You guys just sit tight—I’m going over there right now to teach him a lesson, drag him back here, and make him kneel before you, Boss, to apologize!” Sun Datou shouted, turning to head for the door. “We’ve gotta at least take one of his legs off!” Erhu shouted. “He’s not taking our entire Supervision Team seriously at all!” Cao Shang hurriedly stopped Sun Datou. “Don’t rush. Let’s discuss this first before we act. We can’t be reckless.” “Brother Shang, what’s there to discuss? He’s all alone. What’s there to be afraid of?” “Calm down! He’s acting so brazenly—do you really think Su Mu is some kind of fool?” Cao Shang had always served as the mastermind within this little clique, and his words carried considerable weight. Sun Datou had no choice but to sit back down. Song Dachui had managed to hold his ground here for three years—he wasn’t some single-minded fool. He took Cao Shang’s words to heart: taking down Su Mu required more than brute force. If they were going to deal with him, they needed a legitimate pretext. That way, whether Su Mu ended up crippled or dead, they could shift the blame elsewhere. He reached out, grabbed the stone from the coffee table, and clutched it in his hand, then suddenly burst into loud laughter. Erhu asked in puzzlement, “Boss, how can you even laugh? That kid Su Mu is about to shit all over us!” “Su Mu’s supposed to be staying here for a month, right?” Song Dachui asked, turning his head. “That’s right.” “Then why are we in such a rush? We’ve got a whole month here, and we’re going to do just one thing: slowly wear him down, ramping it up step by step. This is going to be such a fun little game. You guys are already rushing to roll up your sleeves and get started—you’ve got no sense of the fun of it at all.” Cao Shang gave Song Dachui an appreciative look. “A boss really has a higher level of awareness. You guys shouldn’t be so impulsive at the slightest provocation. To deal with him, let’s start with open moves first. If we can’t take him down that way, then we’ll move to covert tactics.” “What do you mean by ‘out in the open’ and ‘behind the scenes’?” Erhu scratched his head. “‘Out in the open’ means making him do more of the work he’s supposed to do here. We’ll nitpick every little detail of his work to make things difficult for him. If he can’t hold back and ends up hurting someone, then we can use the rules here against him. That way, if things escalate, we’ll have a solid case—it’ll definitely hold up. As for the covert approach, that involves pulling some strings behind the scenes. The most important thing in the Tianfu Mine is Source Stone—we can use that to our advantage and put him in a position where he has no way out.” Crack. Song Dachui crushed the stone in his hand to powder, clenching his fist so tightly that fine, fine sand trickled through his fingers. “Assign everyone who came here with him to different living quarters. Since he wants to go against us, we’ll see it through to the end. Do everything according to Old Shang’s proposal—open confrontation first, then covert action. We’ll play this game with him slowly!” As evening approached, Tang Kuan arrived and settled everyone else into their new quarters. These men were overjoyed—they had originally been the ones whose gifts had been rejected, and because of Su Mu’s actions, they’d become the target of the Supervision Team, so this turned out to be a huge stroke of luck for them. All nine of them were settled in, but Su Mu was the only one left behind in that dilapidated big house—it was clearly intended to single him out for punishment. Guo Yan was the last to leave. He couldn’t help but remind him, “Brother Mu, it’s a bit unfriendly of me to just walk away like this, but the mess you’ve gotten yourself into this time is just too big—it’s really… I’d advise you to find a way to improve your relationship with the Supervision Team.” “You’d better get going. If the Supervision Team mistakenly thinks we’re close, you’ll have a hard time getting by in the future. Keep your distance from me in private—just look out for yourself.” Guo Yan had nothing more to say, so he turned and left. The first night was bound to be a long one. Su Mu sat meditating inside his room, and to his surprise, not a single person came knocking on his door. He began to realize that this Song Dachui wasn’t someone to be taken lightly; the fact that he’d managed to hold back from making a move on the very first night was no small feat. Su Mu didn’t let it bother him too much, though—he’d just deal with whatever came his way. Early the next morning, someone came specifically to take Su Mu to the mine shaft and handed him over to a frail old man, who was to guide him through the work inside. The man was at least in his fifties, with a mouthful of yellow teeth; he was clearly not a member of the sect, but rather an old miner recruited from a nearby village or town. Having worked in the mine for decades, often without seeing the light of day, everyone called him “Old Blackhead.” In the eyes of an ordinary person like him, an outer-sect disciple of the Lingxiao Sect was still a high-ranking figure. “Young Master, this is your first time in a place like this, isn’t it? The Source Stones in these mines are rather rough. There are roughly three types. Let me show you the basics first—they have different properties, so you’ll need different tools to harvest them. This is the most fundamental knowledge.” This man was even older than Su Mu’s father. He replied politely, “Don’t call me ‘Young Master.’ Just call me by my name—I’m not used to that.” “All right, then I’ll call you Young Master Su.” “That’s not quite right either. Just call me Xiao Mu. When it comes to working in the mine and guarding against unknown dangers, you have the most experience. In front of you, I’m just an apprentice. Just treat me as your apprentice, and we’ll both be more at ease.”